This invention relates to a continuous form multiple ply ticket assembly and, more particularly, to an assembly suited for typewriter type printing.
For many years the ticket used by airlines were the familiar individual booklet style with the several plies bound in a stub on one narrow end and with a perforation to remove each ply individually from the stub as it was needed. These tickets were typically handwritten.
The Air Transport Association (ATA) began work to develop an automated ticket that could be processed by computers and would be standardized so that all the various airlines could develop computer ticket processing systems that would function with tickets issued by any airline. This work led to the development of specifications for the automated ticket (AT). This ticket used a magnetic strip on the back of the ticket to record various data that could then be read by computers in processing the used tickets. Technology was not available at the time to implement the automated ticket system and other problems became apparent with this system which made it undesirable to implement at that time.
The ATA then prepared a specification for a Transitional Automated Ticket (TAT) to be used for some years until the AT could be implemented. The TAT has become the major ticket used in high volume issuing stations such as airline ticket counters in airports. Tickets for this application are known in the patent art as Herz U.S. Pat. No. 3,877,728 and Steidinger U.S. Pat. No. 4,109,936. The computer equipment to issue tickets of this type is relatively expensive and therefore economically suited to the high volume issuing stations. There was also a need for tickets that could be computer issued by small volume ticket counters, travel agencies, and the like. The 14,000 agency locations issue more tickets in total than are issued at airline ticket counters.
The first printer for this need was made by the Teletype Corporation and tickets for it were called Teletype Tickets or remote terminal printer tickets (RTPT). Later, many companies made printers for this application. The RTPT are a continuous series of multiple plies folded into a pack. It differs fundamentally from the tickets of Herz and Steidinger in that the joining stub is parallel to the length of the series whereas Herz and Steidinger have a transverse stub. This difference leads to many important requirements in the ticket construction. The "length" or longitudinal dimension as referred to herein refers to the dimension in the direction of the continuous web--therefore in an individual ticket the length is 31/4", while the transverse dimension (relative to the direction of web movement), i.e., the "width" is 8". In operation, the Herz/Steidinger type of ticket was printed by applying characters across a transverse line which intersected several sentences or information groups as contrasted to the printing of a single sentence or information group on the normal typewriter.
The first Teletype printer provided pinfeed devices located above the computer printing mechanism to feed the continuous tickets. These tickets still are issued by the computer on demand. When a traveler orders a ticket, the travel agent prepares the ticket using specific flights, dates, etc. The ticket is then separated from the continuous series of tickets. With the pinfeed located above the computer printing mechanism the tickets were 7" long in order that the last line of the ticket could be printed and then the ticket ejected beyond the pinfeed device so it could be separated from the series. The ticket was and still is only 31/4" long so at that time more than 1/2 of the ticket form was torn off and thrown away as waste.
The next development was to install the pinfeed device below the computer printing mechanism--but this still required an excess of at least 1/6". This permitted the last line of the ticket to be printed, the ticket ejected being 31/4" plus 1/6" or more. It is very difficult to remove a waste strip as narrow as 1/6" that consists of 6 to 12 plies of paper so a more practical dimension of 182" is usuallly used. This results in a ticket 4" long with a 3/4" waste strip and a 31/4" long ticket.
This ticket is the present state of the art. It is used by many airlines. It has several major defects that make its function less than desired. The many plies glued in one margin result in wrinkling and tenting of the continuous series when folded into a pack. Wrinkles and tenting result in misregistration of the various plies, feeding difficulties and failures in computer processing the used tickets, and it is difficult for the agent to separate the ticket from the continuous series and to remove the waste stub without damage to the useable portion of the ticket. A different approach is seen in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,113,281 and 4,123,086 where assemblies were detached from a continuous bottom ply which was then used to initiate feeding.
It is an object of this invention to provide airline tickets that can be used on existing Teletype printers and also impact and special computer printers and new printers currently under development. To this end, the invention provides a series of connected tickets made up of multiple plies wherein the interior plies are captured in the control margin along at least one longitudinal edge, the interior plies having a longitudinal dimension shorter than that of the top and bottom plies to provide a "window" or a fold space and at least one line of weakness being in each fold space generally aligned with the transverse edges of the interior plies. The provision of the shorter interior plies, i.e., those providing the "windows", brings about a number of advantageous results. First, the invention makes possible the typing and removal of the tickets on existing Teletype printers and like printers as referred to in the preceding object.
Through the provision of the shorter intermediate plies, the transverse ticket edges on these plies can be registered more accurately on the optical scanners employed for high speed interline ticket accounting and reconciliation. This stems from the fact that a precisely located clean cut edge is provided rather than a hand torn perforation. This enhances accuracy and reliability in optical scanning reconciliation.
The practice of the invention reduces the number of plies in the waste strip to be separated from the ticket which, in addition to saving paper, provides less waste to be disposed of at the counter and an easier-to-tear margin. In this connection, the waste strip associated with the ticket can be removed in one easy motion by the ticket agent. And yet, the smooth continuous covering ply for both top and bottom of the ticket assembly provides trouble-free feeding of the continuous ticket through the pinfeed and printer positions of the computer.
The provision of the shorter interior plies, i.e., those providing the windows, also makes possible a substantial improvement in folding so as to at least minimize tenting and wrinkling and, according to certain modifications of the invention, completely eliminating these objections.